Lifestyle

When women over 60 start looking for a home, they usually have a pretty good idea of what they want. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, maybe a pool and a certain amount of square footage. Sometimes they tell me they want a condo. But do they really know what type of home they want?

Over the 30 years I taught elementary school, I almost always had a cage with something in it. Mice, hamsters, Madagascan hissing cockroaches. I also had a beautiful tank of tropical fish. I believed children needed to learn how to care for something smaller and more vulnerable than themselves. Empathy. Responsibility…

I love to read. Fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks – I read it all. I’m always looking for my next good book. I also love technology, so earlier this year, I decided to combine those two interests by creating a custom GPT called “Find Your Next Great Read.” I designed it to ask a few questions about someone’s reading preferences, identify patterns…

For those of you who read my first article, you will know that my husband Jeff and I left England and moved to Bulgaria 11 years ago. In this article, I will discuss and compare life in an English village to life in a Bulgarian village, with particular reference to those of us in our 60s and over…

For decades, society has been told that aging is a disease. The media and the billion-dollar anti-aging industry reinforce this belief with fear tactics and temporary remedies. When you believe aging is a disease, it’s easy to see it as an elusive thief that steals your zest for life, cancels your dreams, and forces you into a lonely, discontented life…

Maybe you recognize this feeling. You’ve built a successful career. You’ve accomplished things you’re proud of, learned more than you ever imagined, and perhaps you’re still doing work you enjoy. You’re not necessarily unhappy. And you’re certainly not ready to be done. But somewhere in the back of your mind…

There is something deeply comforting about the Blue Zones. We picture an older woman in Sardinia walking home from the market, people in Okinawa sharing a meal, or an elderly man in Ikaria tending his garden, surrounded by people who know him. For years, we have been told that these places hold…

When you picture the holidays, you may see everyone gathered around your table. There are extra chairs pulled in from other rooms, favorite dishes passed around, and someone asking where you keep the serving spoons. It’s the way you’ve celebrated for years. But if you’re thinking about downsizing into a tiny home…

Halloween looks a little different for me these days. I’m no longer the one getting the house ready for the trick-or-treat parade. Now I’m more likely to be at my daughter’s house, helping hand out the candy and watching my granddaughters head off into the night. I love that…

We spend decades preparing to retire. But what happens when the woman who made the plan is no longer quite the woman living it? Anne was 72 when she discovered that her retirement plan had expired. Unfortunately, she hadn’t. At 65, she had everything figured out. Her finances were organized, the mortgage was paid, and she had a respectable list of places…